Tambo Jambo

My group of eight leaves for Tambo in the morning - we are going to this tiny village two hours away for nine days to work with a church there, run some sort of kids camp, do street evangelism, and... I honestly don´t really know what we will be doing there, so I guess I will have to be ready for anything! We have about ten dramas to perform in the church and on the streets, which I thought would be lame but they are actually really powerful (I got goosebumps when I first saw a couple of them - they all show Jesus´redeeming power in different aspects of our lives) and now I´m excited to do them. My team has one German, two Americans, four Brazilians and two Chileans, so we all bring different cultures, languages and perspectives to the group in such a beautiful way.

Please PRAY for our outreach - for effectiveness, ministry, health, travel, unity, protection, God´s message to be heard...

I have some pretty funny pictures of me in a swim meet I will post soon. Yes, I was in a swim meet here. Don´t ask how or why, I still don´t understand how it happened. One minute I was standing ready to help be a timer at the swim meet because they have the only public-use Olympic-size pool in Chile here at the base and use it for lots of community outreaches like swim meets, swimming lessons, kids camps etc (which is the best way to reach a community in a meaningful way, build something they will actually want to use ALL the time!). Then the next thing I knew, I was standing on the diving block in a swim cap and goggles diving in for my race! I got talked into competing for the girls since it was a male vs. female summer meet and they needed more girls. As you probably already know, I am NOT a swimmer (I can get from point A to point B by flailing around but there is no technique involved, I am a runner), but I was willing to try, so there I was. Who would have thought that I would be racing against 12 year old Chilean girls, being cheered on by 200 voices in Spanish all around me... and we tied! There will be a re-match when we return from the outreach, which will be so fun because all the Pichilemu kids get really into it :)

Some updates:

-spiritual warfare has been very real here for many of us in the DTS, from headaches and stomach problems, to sleep problems and nightmares, to dark presences in the house - but the name of Jesus is way bigger and we have been praying over every room in our house, singing worship and reading victory Psalms.. the enemy cant be here when we are praising Jesus, he knows the victory is already won

-I am starting to understand a tiny bit of Portuguese (only when I am hearing it, I can only say like three sentences myself), which is so cool! And I have been interpreting a tiny bit for some other English speakers (from Spanish to English) in our small group - it´s like trying to break a code as fast as someone is speaking it; you´re trying to come up with the right word as fast as you can and keep the meaning of the message intact while switching languages back and forth in your brain... it kind of gives me a little thrill. Maybe someday I will learn enough to interpret?

-I miss the food from home. a lot!

-God is showing us all some "open doors" we have in our lives due to sin, disobedience, abuse, ignorance or hurts of the past, which leave a path open for the enemy to come in with guilt, blame, more sin and more abuse. It´s really sobering to identify these in your life and take control of them again- close your open doors!

-For the past couple of weeks I have been painting the pool-covering which has 280 beams for work duty (it takes about two hours to paint three beams), and I have some permanent green specks of paint on my legs and in my hair that I dont think I will EVER get out. Don´t worry, I´m sure they will still be there for you to see when I come home.

-My sister is going to Malawi Africa with Westmont in May to work with an orphanage there.. keep Kels in your prayers. I am so proud of you sister! I think we will have a very colorful family portrait in the future ;)

pictures coming soon....